Matrix Undone

March 13, 2005

The Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, otherwise known as Matrix, is in danger of becoming the singlestate anti-terrorism information exchange.

Yet another of the original 13 states has dropped out, leaving only four to participate in the data-collection system in which criminal histories and other information are gathered. Connecticut is one of the four.

Last week, Michigan became the latest state to withdraw, citing rising costs and unrealistic expectations to expand the project. But mostly, the Michigan state police said it no longer makes sense to participate in a data-sharing project when so few states actually share data.

Connecticut legislators ought to view the dwindling participation in Matrix as an opportunity to re-examine the state's involvement in this risky data-collection system. Civil libertarians and others have long warned of the inherent dangers of the technology and of the possibility of the data falling into the wrong hands.

Those fears should loom even larger today, given the security breaches suffered by ChoicePoint Inc., in which the identities of 145,000 citizens were stolen, and by data broker Reed Elsevier Group PLC.

The latter company reported last week that information on 32,000 U.S. citizens may have been accessed from its database, which is maintained by LexisNexis' recently acquired Seisint unit. The theft, which is being investigated by law enforcement authorities, includes names, addresses and Social Security and driver's license numbers. The security breach was discovered during internal checking procedures of customers' accounts.

What should be of paramount concern to Connecticut is that Seisint provides data for Matrix. In addition to criminal histories, the Matrix system includes driver's licenses, vehicle registration records, digitized photographs, property ownership, bankruptcy filings and professional licenses.

Justice Department and Homeland Security officials, who have largely financed this project, insist Matrix is safe and that its primary purpose is to allow law enforcement agencies to respond quickly to criminal activity. Officials also say that much of the information is already available to the public.

That may be so, depending on the individual state and its open-government laws, but Matrix facilitates the accumulation of the data in a central repository.

Ideally, the only people with access to the repository are law enforcement investigators with legitimate reasons, such as a report of a crime or suspicious activity. But, as evidenced by the break-ins at ChoicePoint and Seisnt, cunning sleuths with the right kind of computer knowledge have managed to outfox the best security systems. What makes anyone think that Matrix is any more secure than the others?

It's time for Connecticut legislators, who have been curiously silent about Matrix, to seriously reconsider the state's participation.